Sheppard

Parks and Recs creators used Joss's character with a "really witty kind of self awareness", said Samantha Sheppard, associate professor of cinema and media studies at Cornell University.

His role made light of the sensitive issues in a way that made the difficult topic of America's ugly history with indigenous groups more "accessible", Prof Sheppard said.

"Parks and Rec loved to kind of reckon with the fact that despite the very good intentioned and warm-hearted, generous public servant that was Leslie Knope, and the folks who worked for the city, that the city still existed on indigenous land, and therefore had to account for those violences and that history," Prof Sheppard told the BBC.

He was first approached about Paddington around the time of the first Covid lockdown in early 2020, and workshopped the project with scriptwriter Jessica Swale, director Luke Sheppard and the producers before the show was formally announced in 2023.

Looking back, Ann Sheppard, 73, from Reading, thinks she must have hit the jackpot.